Boudreaux Does It Again

Higgs on the Bailout

Sure enough, in the days after the bill’s initial defeat, its managers took the monstrosity that had failed on Monday and made it even uglier. Their purpose, of course, was to buy off the bill’s opponents in Congress by sweetening it with all sorts of more or less unrelated provisions intended to channel benefits to the opponents’ constituents and supporters. In short, in Washington last week, business went on as usual: Congress is the name; corruption is the game.

Yes. Thank goodness we Americans have mature, responsible, wise, and courageous ‘leaders’ in government to regulate markets.

Children can be excused for believing in Santa Claus; they are, after all, children. Adults cannot be excused for believing in the beneficence and wisdom of the state. This institution’s foolishness and predations are visible for all who care to see. I can respect at least the intelligence of those who defend the state as their means of extracting wealth from others — that is, for example, I can respect the intelligence of U.S. auto executives who defend the state as their means of extracting the $25 billion recently ponied up by Uncle Sam to help G.M., Ford, and Chrysler. I can respect their intelligence even as I loathe their ethics.

But I cannot respect the intelligence of adults who continue to insist that empowering strangers sitting beneath a marble dome to take and spend other people’s money is wise and sensible. And my respect for such alleged ‘intelligence’ dissolves even further when I reflect upon the fact that those persons who insist on trusting the state (because its top officials are elected democratically) see — or should see — the disgraceful behavior that these officials each engage in to win their gaudy glory.